1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical or optical connector in which the mating ends of its electrical or optical contacts are protected when the connector is not mated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A releasable electrical or optical connector assembly includes a plug connector, a receptacle connector, and a plurality of contacts each mounted in one of the connectors and respective pairs of which being adapted to mate with one another when the connectors are mated. When either connector part is unmated the mating end of some of the contacts therein is exposed or otherwise unprotected. When used in some environments the mating end of the contacts could be subject to undesirable frequency interference, dust and/or moisture attack, or be bent or otherwise damaged.
Protection caps can be separately installed over the mating ends of the connector. Use of such apparatus is not always desirable because unless the cap is somehow secured to the connector the cap can be lost once it is removed from the connector.
To alleviate this problem, it has been suggested to provide a laterally slidable plate on the mating faces of the plug and receptacle connectors which overlie the contacts. The plates normally are in position to protect the contacts and are automatically moved into a non-blocking position when the connectors are mated by means of a single cam pin, mounted in the receptacle, which is provided with two acutely-angled ramp surfaces. One ramp surface is adapted to slide open the protective plate on the plug connector mating surface upon the initiation of the mating motion, and the second ramp surface is adapted to slide open the protective plate on the receptacle connector upon further insertion of the plug connector into the receptacle connector, following rearward axial movement of the receptacle plate against a spring bias. Both slide plates are spring biased to their blocking positions.
It has been found that the connector described above may not provide adequate protection of the contacts from dirt, etc. and the use of a single cam pin is undesirable. A single cam pin takes up valuable space in the field of the contacts and may be subject to damage as it is not an integral part of the mechanism.
In addition, connectors may remain in their mated state for some period of time, and may remain stuck together when they are attempted to be demated. This sticking may cause the slide plates to remain in their open position, and not automatically close when the connectors are demated.
It has also been found that there is the possibility of dirt entering the contact area when the slides are opened during the mating of two connectors, after the connectors have been in their protective state for some time in the field.
It would be desirable to provide an improved protection mechanism for a connector of the type described which alleviated the above problems.